


Resistance is futile

by Frangipanidownunder



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:47:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9468029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frangipanidownunder/pseuds/Frangipanidownunder
Summary: For @leiascully‘s XF Writing Challenge: resistance. I know this one does not answer the prompt question ‘how did our agents (or supporting characters, since this is all X-Files and not just M&S) undermine conspiracy and expectations?’. But I’ve been on holidays and I haven’t flexed my writing muscles because I’ve been sunbaking!It’s just fluff. Slightly not safe for work. Enjoy.





	

Mulder watched his son read the passage again, a single brow furrowed in the same manner as his mother. His sandy fringe flopped over his eyes and William pushed it back, huffing.  
“What are you stuck on, Will?”  
“Resistance. Ironic, don’t you think?”  
Mulder smiled. “It’s like rain on your wedding day.”   
“What?”  
“Mulder, why are you singing 90s songs to our fourteen year old son when he’s trying to do his homework?” Scully pushed a mug of coffee into his hands and took a sip of her own. “And it was 75 degrees of wall-to-wall sunshine on our wedding day.”  
“Yes, but it rained somewhere in the world.”  
William put his pen down. “There’s a forty per cent chance of rain on any given day in Washington, so you were pretty lucky.”  
Scully chuffed out a laugh. “And there’s a hundred per cent chance that you are your father’s son, William Mulder.” She eyed Mulder, who’s chest was puffed with a ridiculous sense of pride. “Now, what about your homework? Maybe the scientist in the family can actually help you, instead of the dreamer of the family hindering you with pop lyrics.”  
“Alanis Morisette was hardly pop. And don’t tell me that you haven’t got all her albums in your CD collection, Dr Scully.” He ruffled William’s hair and bent down to whisper in his ear. “I heard her belting out ‘You oughtta know’ when she used to run. Back in the day.”  
“I still run,” she countered. “And I’m here to remind you, that I still know all the words. And you are still my cross to bear.” She poked her tongue out and Mulder laughed.  
“You two are so weird,” William said, shaking his head and picking up his work book again. “I have to answer all this stuff about circuits, Ohm’s Law and resistance and they’re all in a household setting. And seeing as how you pair aren’t exactly domestically gifted, I think I’ll just call Kyle instead.” William dropped the book and slid his phone off the desk.  
“Whoa, whoa,” Mulder said, holding up his hands. “Not domestically gifted? What are you talking about? Are we, or are we not, hands-on domestic, Scully?”  
William giggled. “Dad, last week, the shelf you built in the garage fell off the wall.”  
“And took with it all my best bottles of red,” Scully added.  
“That was a degradation of the materials in the hinge and bracket, William. Not anything to do with my engineering skills.”  
“Well, I did wait six years for the shelf to be ‘engineered’. That might have been a contributing factor to this alleged degradation.”  
Mulder whistled. “Dr Scully, I seem to recall the cake you baked for our son’s thirteenth birthday didn’t exactly hold up to the same rigorous standards that you are now applying to my handiwork.”  
“Deconstructed cooking is all the rage, Mulder. Didn’t you know?”  
William snorted. “How is any of this helping me?”  
“Resistance is the hindrance to the flow of charge, William,” Scully said, putting her mug down and sitting next to him. “You must know that there are variables that affect electrical resistance.”  
William nodded. “Length, width, material.”  
“That’s right. And the resistance of a wire is directionally proportional to the length of the wire and inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of the wire. So, if you know those two measurements and you know the material that the wire is made from, then you can work out the resistance. It’s just a mathematical formula.”  
“She says that all the time,” Mulder said. “And yet her cake still collapsed.”  
“Mulder! Until you can add something more substantial to this conversation, I suggest you go down to the garage and start oiling your hinges and brackets.”  
“Oooh, is that a metaphor, Dr Scully? Should I have a shave tonight?”  
William screwed up his nose and sighed. “See, this is what I mean? I’m calling Kyle.”  
Scully held up her hand. “It’s okay. Let me see the questions.” She took the book from the desk. “Mulder, why don’t you check on the casserole?”  
“The casserole is fine. I checked it twenty minutes ago. The lamb is deconstructing nicely. Let me help. I can wire up stuff.”  
Scully folded her arms. “So, if a circuit contains a three-cell battery, wires and a light bulb, what would cause it to shine less brightly?”  
Mulder smirked. “A power cut?”  
William chuckled. “Either a reduction of the current or an increase in the resistance of the bulb?”  
Scully beamed. “You’ve got it.”  
William blushed. “And therefore, if we use the wrong gauge wire to power a household appliance, we could risk overheating it.”  
“That’s right,” she said, looking up at Mulder.  
“So when Dad wired up the…”  
“William, why don’t you go and check on the casserole?” Mulder cut in. “I’m sure your mother would appreciate the table being set.”  
Scully glared at Mulder. “Did you have anything to do with the coffee machine incident?”  
He placed a hand over his heart. “That was an accident.”  
“An expensive one.”  
“I did buy you the better model.”  
She smiled into her chin, recalling the grand unveiling of the new Cuisinart that occupied a shiny chrome spot on the kitchen bench. “That you did.”  
“And I did apologise profusely for the accident and I did spend many creative hours making it up to you…”  
“Dad!” William held both his hands over his ears.  
Scully laughed. “I think you’ll be okay to finish your homework by yourself now, William. If you need me to read over your answers after dinner, I can do that. But right now, I need to get this man of little domestic talent out of your hair.” She pushed Mulder back towards the door of the study.

 

Scully lay under the crisp sheet and nestled into the crook of Mulder’s arm. “The casserole was delicious. The coffee afterwards was smooth and balanced.”  
“So, you do approve of some of my domestic talents?”  
She breathed in his smell and kissed his sweat-salted skin. “Oh, I approve of many of your domestic talents, Fox Mulder.”  
“Well, that’s good to know, Dr Scully. Because while you’re busy being all sciency and stuff, us dreamers here are always thinking of ways to improve our domestic lot in life. And keeping you blissfully happy is my number one goal.”  
She played with the fine hairs on his chest. “That’s a very admirable target. Do you have a mathematical formula for achieving this goal?”  
He turned to kiss her deeply. “Of course.”  
“And what is it?” The colour on her cheeks rose as he wisped a thumb over her breast.  
“You wouldn’t understand.” He pulled her nipple into his mouth.  
She gasped. “Oh really?”  
He released it with a pop. “But I could demonstrate.”  
She hummed. “Does it involve energy and flow?”  
“And width and length and friction.”  
She snorted into his hair as his head moved lower. “And, Dr Scully,” he looked up with a sparkle in his eye, “resistance is futile.”


End file.
